Sri Lanka November tourist arrivals up 20-pct

Dec 08, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tourist arrivals for November went up 20.1 percent to 44,311 from a year ago, boosted by more visitors from key markets like the United Kingdom, Germany and India, while arrivals from Eastern Europe dipped, tourism data showed. Cumulative arrivals, which had fallen steadily till May, were up 0.4 percent to 391,028 in the January to November period from the same period in 2008.

Tourist arrivals in the island increased sharply from May, when government forces defeated the Tamil Tigers, ending Sri Lanka's 30-year ethnic war.

Updated

The number of visitors from Western Europe rose 18.0 percent to 15,212 with France up 43 percent to 1,424, the UK up 11.7 percent to 6,336 and Germany up 17.5 percent to 3,433.

Visitors from Eastern Europe were down 13.9 percent to 3,456 with tourist arrivals from Russia plunging 34.5 percent to 1,491 compared with the same month last year.

South Asian arrivals continued to grow in double digits, up 23.3 percent to 13,371. India generated 8,769 visitors, up 14.7 percent, and Pakistan 681, up 29.0 percent. But arrivals from the Maldives fell 4.5 percent to 3,586.

The number of visitors from the Middle-East shot up 200.3 percent to 2,886.

East Asian vi